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Abstract: Oscar Hernández was born in Los Angeles, but grew up in the small town of Woodland, California. He was raised by his mother, who at the age of seventeen emigrated from Mexico. She was and still is a great motivation for him to succeed.
His household consists of his mother, her boyfriend and five children: two older siblings who are in their early twenties, himself, his two year old brother, and his twelve year old cousin, who Oscar’s mom helped raise.
Oscar is the first of his family, both siblings and parents, to have ever attended college. This, however, was not one of his priorities until his late high school
years. Because of hanging out with the “wrong” group, and not having a positive outlook in school, he was expelled in 9th grade and sent to a continuation
school. There, he met Ms. Poehlman, a teacher ,who was supportive and passionate to help him excel in school.
Oscar retuned to high school in 10th grade because he obtained straight A’s, and improved his lifestyle. Another mentor during his high school years was Pete, his employer, who still continues to mentor him today. In order to keep focused and off the streets, Oscar began boxing at age fifteen. He feels that being an armature boxer improves the way he deals with
life, especially school, because it requires determination, not giving up, planning and understanding.
Now, Oscar is a freshman at UC Davis where he is majoring in Managerial Economics. Although he has passed through many difficult times, Oscar always believes that “it doesn’t matter where you are from, what matters is where you’re going.”
Keywords: First Generation, Boxing, expelled, mentors, single mother, Latino, defying the odds
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